132 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



of men, horses, or machinery. Depreciation, taxes, and insurance 

 on buildings were omitted, to say nothing of the multitude of 

 miscellaneous expenses. 



To call the difference between the value of the feed and the 

 returns from live-stock profit, is just as inaccurate as it would be 

 to call the difference between the cost of leather and the value of 

 shoes the profit of a shoe factory. This error is very common in 

 farm publications. 



Popular publications are of course looking for striking things. 

 Headlines stating that John Jones and his son rose at five o'clock, 

 milked the cows, worked in the fields all day, and milked the 

 cows again at night, and made a dollar and a half apiece by so 

 doing, would probably not add to the circulation any more than 

 would the statement that merchant So-and-so went to the store in 

 the morning, stayed there all day except for a hurried lunch, 

 returned home for supper, and that by so doing he made enough 

 to pay his modest living expenses. Publications are usually not 

 looking for the ordinary, they are looking for the unusual ; that 

 is, for the news and the news is sometimes highly colored. 



Compared with city work, farming is a very much better busi- 

 ness than many farmers think it to be. It is a much poorer 

 business than many city persons think it to be. At one of the 

 Farmers' Week lectures, the writer gave the results from some of 

 the most successful farms in the state. After the talk, an intelligent 

 farmer stated that he did not believe any farm ever made so much 

 money. An equally intelligent city business man criticized the talk 

 even more severely because it did not show profits enough. 



How big a business is a farm ? The following statement from 

 a recent letter is typical : 



I want to buy a farm and go to farming scientifically. I have always had a 

 love for outdoor life and find that my present occupation is too confining for 

 my health. I have about $5000 and have thought that you might possibly 

 know of some good graduate of the College of Agriculture who would act as 

 superintendent for me for a share of the profits. We would prefer a married 

 man so that he could board the help. 



Very few farmers who have only $5000 invested in the busi- 

 ness employ much, if any, hired labor. In fact, a farm w 7 ith this 



